The sea is worth gold: why blue natural capital is a strategic asset
An ocean of opportunity, in the most literal sense. Blue Natural Capital - the set of resources, ecosystems, and ecosystem services tied to marine and coastal environments - represents an invaluable asset for the global economy. According to WWF, its total stock exceeds $24.3 trillion. Activities linked to the ocean economy, from fisheries to offshore renewable energy, generate an annual added value between $2.5 and $3 trillion.
Yet this wealth remains largely invisible on corporate balance sheets and in business strategies. The Sustainability Lab at SDA Bocconi School of Management, in joint with Intesa Sanpaolo, is launching the Blue Monitor with a study that seeks to close this gap. The aim is to show that protecting and enhancing Blue Capital is not only an environmental duty; it’s also an extraordinary opportunity for sustainable growth, innovation, and competitiveness for companies and public institutions alike.
The questions
The concept of Natural Capital has become part of the sustainability lexicon. But what does it mean in marine and coastal contexts? Scientific literature has traditionally overlooked the economic value of the ecosystem services provided by the sea, offering only fragmented or partial estimates.
To address this, the Blue Monitor research was designed to answer three key questions:
- What is the real economic value of the services provided by marine and coastal ecosystems?
- When managed sustainably, what tangible benefits can we achieve?
- How can businesses and policy makers integrate Blue Capital into their decision-making models?
Fieldwork
Researchers at SDA Bocconi analyzed 1,537 data points drawn from 595 scientific studies, producing a monetary assessment of the ecosystem of services generated by marine and coastal environments. The data were standardized in international dollars (a hypothetical currency used to compare purchasing power across countries, accounting for differences in local prices and cost of living) per hectare per year ($/ha/year).
What is Blue Natural Capital?
- The Blue Economy expands the concept of the ocean economy by integrating environmental and social sustainability principles. It focuses on the responsible use of ocean resources to foster economic growth, improve livelihoods, and create jobs while ensuring the health of marine ecosystems.
- Blue Natural Capital is the set of marine natural resources that generate essential services for the economy and society (such as biodiversity, habitats, and ecosystems).
How much is it worth?
- Marine ecosystem services: $3,750/ha/year
- Coastal ecosystem services: $3,558/ha/year
In marine areas, value is concentrated in cultural services (aesthetic value, tourism) and support services (biodiversity); along the coasts we prevalently find provisioning services (food and water) and regulating services (protection from extreme events, air and water quality). The moderation of extreme events, for instance, refers to the ability of natural ecosystems, such as coral reefs, mangroves, or seagrass meadows, to curb the impact of extreme weather events like hurricanes, storms, floods, and storm surges.
Some illuminating examples of blue value:
- The moderation of extreme events is worth up to $13,794/ha/year.
- Existence and bequest values can reach $15,811/ha/year. (These are non-material benefits that stem from simply knowing that a certain ecosystem, species, or landscape exists, even if it’s not directly used.)
- Raw materials provided by the sea are worth over $14,000/ha/year.
- The fisheries and aquaculture sector produced 223.2 million tons in 2022, for a total value of $472 billion.
Looking ahead
The data are clear: Blue Natural Capital is an economic asset in its own right. Ignoring it means missing out on opportunities for development, efficiency, and sustainable leadership.
To seize these opportunities, businesses should invest in marine biotechnology and innovative materials (e.g., collagen from fishery waste), improve climate risk management, and enter high value-added supply chains such as offshore wind energy. This sector already generates 70 GW globally, with estimated returns of up to $17 for every dollar invested.
Policy makers should promote nature-based solutions such as mangroves and seagrass meadows (capable of absorbing up to 3 GtCO₂ per year), develop marine protected areas that can increase fish biomass by up to six times, and ensure global food security. Today, 17% of the animal protein consumed in the world comes from the sea.
